Sky Pirate Brawl
by Laerkstrein
Summary: While taking a break from traveling, Vaan and friends return to Rabanastre. But while there, Vaan heads to the Sandsea pub and discovers that a fight has broken out. A fight that seems to have been instigated by the sky pirate, Balthier.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Final Fantasy XII._ All characters in this fic belong to Square Enix, Tetsuya Nomura, and anyone else who has copyright claims on the_ Final Fantasy_ series and its characters. I only own my personal interpretations, original characters, and original plot ideas that I may choose to include.

**Sky Pirate Brawl  
**

**A/N: **I was playing _Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings_ last night, and it made me think back to the original_ Final Fantasy XII_. And now that I'm getting sucked back into Ivalice again, I though I'd write a humorous little oneshot. :)

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Young Vaan trudged around the streets of his hometown of Rabanastre, muttering bitterly to himself as he headed for the local pub, the Sandsea. Like always, he thought about the pain and suffering the Archadian Empire had caused for him and the people of his beloved Rabanastre. The Empire had, for years, wreaked havoc upon the royal city within the land of Dalmasca, and Vaan had grown weary of seeing Imperial soldiers marching about in the streets, and parading about giving orders as if they owned the place.

But, in a way, they did. For Dalmasca had lost the battle at the fortress of Nalbina two years prior. And, since then, things hadn't been the same. For now, two long, hard years after that dreadful battle, Vaan was still troubled. His beloved older brother, Reks, had been involved in that battle, only to fall victim to the Imperial thugs. Vaan grit his teeth as he thought back to his brother's pained, final moments of life. Reks had been severely wounded at Nalbina, and had been hospitalized immediately upon his return to Rabanastre. But even after the intense medical attention, Reks had fallen victim to the wounds of battle.

As Vaan continued to think on it, tears pricked his eyes, and he wiped them away, determined not to let his feelings get the better of him. He crossed the street to the Sandsea, willing himself to remain strong in the face of his friend, the infamous sky pirate, Balthier. Vaan pushed through a small crowd that had gathered within the pub, knowing immediately that Balthier was involved in some way, shape, or form. As he managed to squeeze past a jeering bangaa, Vaan spotted Balthier, calm as ever, as a large, drunken seeq advanced on him.

"The hell d'ya think y'are?" the seeq bellowed with a slur, a bottle of spirits still clenched in his hand. "Think yer all that, eh?"

Balthier merely grinned, motioning with his hand for the seeq to take his best shot. With a loud roar, the drunken seeq threw the bottle of spirits at Balthier's head, only to miss by several feet. The crowd roared with laughter as Vaan shook his head. Although he was a bit of a troublemaker himself, it seemed that Balthier had little to no restraint when it came to a fight. As Vaan had observed in the past, Balthier preferred to fight using wit and strategy, rather than brute force alone. But, when necessary, the sky pirate would jump headlong into a fray, and come out the victor.

A haughty laugh reached Vaan's ears, and the teen sighed and rolled his eyes as Balthier began talking back to the violent drunk. "Is that the best you can do?" the sky pirate laughed, taking a drink from his own bottle. "I've seen cactoids with more skill than you."

Vaan rolled his eyes, yet again, as the enraged seeq managed to grab Balthier by the sleeve of his white shirt. The sky pirate appeared surprised at first, but quickly turned the tables by slugging the seeq with far more force than was necessary. The crowd became hushed as the massive seeq tumbled to the floor with a thud.

As several people began gathering around the unconscious seeq, Vaan moved through the crowd to get to Balthier. "What the hell was that?" he demanded, pointing at the seeq. "You're gonna get arrested if you keep pulling crap like that! What's wrong with you?"

Balthier merely grinned, trying to brush away the dirt that the seeq had left on his sleeve. "Disgusting, aren't they?" he replied, ignoring Vaan's previous questions as he continued fighting with the dirt stain. "Always leaving a trail of filth in their wake. It's really a wonder that the people around here don't just banish them to the Garamsythe Waterway. After all, a place such as that is truly fitting for the ways of the seeq."

As the words left the sky pirate's mouth, a small group of seeqs, that had gathered around the notice board in the pub, turned to face him. "What's that ya said 'bout us belongin' in the waterway?" one of them growled. "Ya tryin' to start another fight, boy?"

"Just excuse my friend here," Vaan said hurriedly, clamping a hand over Balthier's mouth before the man could make matters worse. "He's just... a little out of it today."

Balthier slapped Vaan's hand away, giving the teen a fair shove before stepping up to stare the growling seeq in the eye. "Nothing personal, mind you," he said with a grin and a wave of his hand. "It's just that, frankly, your kind have a tendency of being fairly... ripe, as some would say." The sky pirate's grin widened as the seeq began to quiver with rage. "Perhaps a good long bath in some galbana lily fragrance would do you some good. I've yet to obtain some for my lovely Fran, but the word is, it's quite refreshing."

Having regained his balance, Vaan smacked himself in the face. Balthier was _not _making things any better by running his mouth. The way Vaan pictured it, Balthier was going to start another fight, and get himself, and possibly Vaan, arrested. And the last thing the teen wanted was to end up in the Nalbina Dungeons again. His last little trip there hadn't been, what one might call, a leisurely stroll through the Giza Plains.

"Outta the way, urchin!" the seeq roared, grabbing Vaan by the arm and throwing him against the nearest wall.

Vaan hit the wall with a solid thud, drawing the attention, and worried gazes, of several of the Sandsea's occupants. The teen rubbed the back of his head, which had hit the wall significantly hard, and muttered bitterly to himself as he approached the seeq. "That does it, ham bone," he shouted, giving the seeq a good kick with his boot. "If you want a piece of me, then come and get it! I'll give you pigs something to squeal about!"

Balthier's laughter rang throughout the pub as the seeq and his friends turned on the mouthy teen. "Oh, that's golden, Vaan," the sky pirate said, pulling his gun on the seeqs. "Who would've thought you had it in you."

As one of the seeqs lunged at Vaan, Balthier fired a round of Wyrmfire shot that burst into flames upon contact with the seeq's flesh. With a shriek, the seeq stumbled backwards, tumbling over his own feet as he ran through the pub looking for a basin of water in which to ease the pain. The remaining seeqs that had advanced on Vaan quickly backed away, not wanting to suffer the same pain as their leader.

"So sorry about the mess," Balthier snickered to the pub manager as he began directing Vaan towards the door with his free hand. "I'm sure this will pay for the damages." As soon as the seeqs were far enough away, the sky pirate reached into his coin purse and handed the manager a significant amount of gil. "Keep the difference," he added, heading out the door.

Vaan, who had waited until Balthier had made his way through the crowd that had gathered at the pub's entrance, scowled as the sky pirate approached him. "What was that all about?" the teen demanded, crossing his arms. "I mean, what were you thinking, taking those guys on like that?"

Balthier shrugged. "Let's assume that some filthy vermin had attempted to handle Penelo. What would you do about it?"

"Are you stupid?" Vaan shot back with a laugh. "I'd fight 'em off."

The sky pirate grinned, smacking Vaan in the head with a laugh. "Exactly," he said simply, turning to see a smiling Fran standing across the street at the Gambit shop. "That, my young friend, is exactly how the whole mess started."

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XD I had a lot of fun coming up with this. I can just imagine it: some nasty, drunken seeq trying to manhandle Fran, only to end up in a fistfight with none other than Balthier. Oh, how fun it would be to see that in the game. :) Just the thought of it makes me giggle. :3


End file.
